japan running news

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...

The Kansai Region qualifying race for November's 58th National University Men's Ekiden was held June 7 at Yanmar Field Nagai in Osaka. Kyoto Sangyo University won overall, with Osaka Keizai University , Kwansei Gakuin University and Ritsumeikan University taking the other 3 qualifying spots. 1st the last 2 years, Kansai University placed 5th and missed out on making the main event. 12 teams ran in the qualifying race, each fielding teams of 8 split evenly across 4 heats of 10000 m. Their cumulative times determined the team score, with the 4 fastest teams earning spots. The National University Men's Ekiden happens Nov. 1 on an 8-stage, 106.8 km course from Atsuta Jingu in Aichi to Ise Jingu in Mie. Winner Kyoto Sangyo missed out on qualifying last year, but its win this year had special significance as it earned the team its 50th appearance at Nationals. 2nd-year Tsukito Minami brought momentum to the team's performance in the 2nd 10000 m heat. Osaka Keizai 3rd-ye...

The National Corporate Federation JITA announced on June 3 that starting in the fall of 2027, Tahara, Aichi will be the venue for the new unified national-level qualifying race for the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships. Up til now the New Year Ekiden has not had an auto-qualifying bracket, forcing all teams to run one of 6 regional qualifying ekidens, East Japan, Chubu, Hokuriku, Kansai, Chugoku and Kyushu, every year in order to run in the main event. The simplified qualification format was made in order to increase fan interest and excitement. Starting with the 2027 New Year Ekiden, top-placing teams will auto-qualify for the next year's New Year Ekiden. Teams that finish outside the auto-qualifying bracket will race the new unified qualifying race in the fall of 2027 in order to qualify for the 2028 New Year Ekiden. JITA put out a call for hosting proposals last November and selected Tahara from among the bids. Tahara currently hosts the existing Chubu ...

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR announced May 18 that the Yosenkai qualifying race for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden will be held Oct. 17 on its usual 21.0975 km half marathon course starting at the Tachikawa Air SDF Base in western Tokyo and finishing next door at Showa Kinen Park. The top 10 teams at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January including winner Aoyama Gakuin University auto-qualified for the 103rd Hakone. All other schools in the Kanto Region must run the Yosenkai to qualify, fielding up to 12 athletes with their first 10 finishers scored on aggregate time. The 10 fastest teams will go on to the main event next January. The field this time is expected to include Toyo University , which finished 14th at the 102nd Hakone to break a 20-year+ streak of top 10 finishes, 15th-place Nittai University which will be looking to make Hakone for the 79th year in a row, and the debuting Shibaura Kogyo University . It's an exciting mix of traditional powerhouses and up-and...

  After finishing 15th at the Hakone Ekiden in January and dropping off the Hakone podium for the first time in 20 years, Toyo University  is on a comeback mission. At the May 4 National University Ekiden Qualifying Meet at Kanagawa's Lemon Gas Stadium Toyo finished 5th overall in 3:58:51.88, scoring a place at November's Nationals after missing out last time around. 3rd-year Shion Jinnai , who led the first of the qualifying meet's 4 heats of 10000 m, said, "Our theme this season is 'getting back to our roots.' We have a new captain and some great 1st-years, and we're going for top 3 at Hakone." Jinnai talked about some changes in the team since the disappointing last season, saying, "We're still doing the same group training, but we're also now putting more effort into individual activity out side of that, things like aerobic development outside the scheduled practices. We have team practices twice a day on weekdays when there are class...

The winner of the first Marathon Grand Championships Olympic trials race is starting down a new road leading back to the Hakone Ekiden. Set to retire at the end of March, 2021 Tokyo Olympics marathon team member Shogo Nakamura (33, Fujitsu) will take over as head coach at Meiji Gakuin University in April in a quest for its first-ever Hakone appearance. According to a source involved in the situation, Nakamura has been hired to lead Meiji Gakuin to Hakone by the 2028-29 academic year. Nakamura's career as an athlete garnered great respect, especially his serious attitude toward competition and the patience and endurance he developed through marathon running. Still on the cusp of retirement, Nakamura is unproven as a leader. But last year he entered the Waseda University Graduate School of Sport Science with the aim of becoming a professional coach. While balancing his academic work with his racing he studied top sports management at the same place Susumu Hara , head coach of 9-t...

Entry lists are out for the 102nd Hakone Ekiden on Jan. 2-3. Performances exploded in the 10000 m and half marathon this year, and Japan's university teams are better than ever. With 21 teams of 16 entrants and 10 starters each, 12 teams have a 10-man 5000 m average under 14 minutes and 3 under 13:45, with 11 teams having at least one runner with a PB under 13:30. In the 10000 m 19 teams have a sub-29 average, 3 are under 28:30, and one, Chuo University , averages an incredible 27:55.98. 13 teams have at least one runner with a PB under 28 minutes, Chuo having 6 and Aoyama Gakuin University 5. 5 teams have a runner under 27:30. 19 of the 21 teams average under 63 for the half marathon and 3 sub-62, with 10 teams having at least one runner under 61 minutes and 2 with someone under 60 minutes. Koku Gakuin University  was ranked 4th at October's Izumo Ekiden , where it won, and 1st at November's National University Ekiden , where it was 4th. At Hakone it's ranked #1, th...

With the best half marathon credentials in the field of 42 Kanto Region university teams, 11 runners with half marathon bests under 64 minutes, Chuo Gakuin University took the top spot at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon, the official qualifying race for January's 102nd Hakone Ekiden. With a 1:00:45 best Hiro Konda let the way for CGU as the top Japanese finisher in the race, running 1:02:04 for 7th overall. Taisei Ichikawa was next at 18th in 1:02:16 and Kotaro Osabe next in 1:02:57 for 38th, and CGU's other 7 scoring members all came through with a good run to give CGU the win in a combined time of 10:32:23, a 10-man average of 1:03:14.30. That was a bit on the slow side given the excellent conditions which were thanks in part to the race starting an hour earlier this year. An all-African lead group took it out hard, splitting 14:25 and 28:43 at 5 km and 10 km. The projected finish time was 1:00:35 at that point, in range of the best Japanese athletes in the filed...

January's Hakone Ekiden has a big impact on the shape of the fall season for Japanese collegiate men. The top 10 teams at Hakone run this past Monday's Izumo Ekiden , where 6 runners per team run an average of 7.5 km. 11th-place and lower run Saturday's Yosenkai, the half marathon used to fill the 10 remaining slots in the Hakone field and the lineup of the select team made up of top-placing individuals from universities that don't qualify as a team. The 42 teams at the Yosenkai can run up to 12 people, with the times of their first 10 finishers adding up to a team score and the 10 fastest teams going on to the big show. At Izumo a lot of the top teams were down on track times this season . At the Yosenkai it's really noticeable how much the level has come up. In 2023 only 2 teams, Daito Bunka University and Tokyo Kokusai University , had a 10-runner 10000 m average under 29 minutes. Last year there were 3, Chuo University , Tokai University and TKU again. This ...

The 38th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 13. Surugadai University 's Kio Furuhashi took the men's race in 1:02:36. His time was a new PB by 32 seconds. A graduate of Iga Hakuho H.S. in Mie, Furuhashi made the National High School Championships in the 1500 m and 5000 m his 2nd year, and ran in the National High School Ekiden two years in a row. At Surugadai he has run at Kanto Regionals and the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai since his first season, making his debut at the Hakone Ekiden itself this past January with an 18th-place finish on the Third Stage. Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) was 2nd in 1:02:45, with Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:02:50. Miku Fukuda (Ehime Ginko) won the women's race in 1:14:37. Complete results available here . source article: https://www.rikujyokyogi.co.jp/archives/176217 translated by Brett Larner

On June 19 the KGRR , organizers of the Hakone Ekiden , published a press release on the new criteria for making the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team for the prestigious race. The new process will assign a single place on the team to 10 different universities, with an additional 6 spots for individuals. The Kanto Region Student Alliance team is intended to broaden the opportunities for schools to participate in Hakone, making it possible for traditionally strong schools that failed to qualify to still be represented and for new programs to be able to take part for the first time. It was first created in 2003 for the 79th Hakone Ekiden under the name Kanto Region Select Team. From 2007 to 2013 its team results counted in overall placing, but after being eliminated in 2014 it was brought back a year later in a non-scoring capacity under its new name and has been a part of the event ever since with the exception of Hakone's 100th running in 2024. Nomination to the Student All...

On Mar. 25 the KGRR , organizers of the Hakone Ekiden, announced the start time for mid-October's 102nd Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying half marathon in Tachikawa, Tokyo will be changed from its traditional starting time of 9:35 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. as a measure against rising temperatures. The KGRR explained, "We have explored what options we have to maximize the safety of our athletes from the effects of global warming. With that in mind we have decided to move the start time earlier to reduce the risk from heat." At the Yosenkai half marathon schools may run up to 12 team members, with their first 10 finishers scoring based on their combined finish times. With places at the world's biggest road race on the line competition is fierce and the young student athletes push their bodies and minds to their absolute limits. Last year's race on Oct. 19 had unseasonably hot weather that turned into a battle of attrition. At the 9:35 a.m. start it was 23.2˚, rising to summ...

In a quest to make its first Hakone Ekiden, Shibaura Kogyo University announced this week that former Surugadai University head coach Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, and former Reitaku University head coach Tatsuya Yamakawa , 40, will take over as head and assistant coach starting in April. In a statement issued by the university Tokumoto commented, "I'm pleased to have been named head coach of Shibaura Kogyo University's track and field team. When they came to feel me I could feel their passion about achieving their dream of becoming the first science and technology university to compete in the Hakone Ekiden. I was happy to accept because I felt that this was an environment in which I could grow too. It's my responsibility to help them become the 45th university ever to compete in Hakone. I hope that you'll enjoy Act II of the Tokumoto Show and cheer us on as Shibaura Kogyo heads down the road to Hakone." Yamakawa's comments read, "I arrived early in Feb...

After having led Surugadai University to its first-ever Hakone Ekiden appearances in 2022 and 2024, Kazuyoshi Tokumoto , 45, announced on Jan. 12 that he is stepping down as head coach. A star Hakone runner during his days at Hosei University , Tokumoto took over as head coach at Surugadai in 2012. In his 10th season in 2021-22 Surugadai made the qualifying bracket at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race, earning the right to make its debut at Hakone 2022. That was followed up with a second appearance in 2024. Assistant coach Nobuhiro Goto , 42, will take over from Tokumoto in the head coach's role. According to a source, Tokumoto had already informed the athletes, their parents and other involved parties of his decision to leave the program prior to making the public announcement. The announcement makes Surugadai the 4th Hakone contender school to replace its head coach for the 2025-26 season, following Asia University , Reitaku University and Meiji University . Others are...

With high humidity, mostly sunny skies and temps reported as high as 30˚ it was just too hot for fast times at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon qualifying race for January's 101st Hakone Ekiden. Individual winner and last year's 1:00:16 CR setter Shadrack Kipkemei from Nihon University and runner-up Brian Kipyegon of Yamanashi Gakuin University lasting the whole way on sub-1:01 pace and going 1:00:59 and 1:01:02 was really exceptional given the weather, but you could see how tough it was given that only five people went under 1:02 and seven under 1:03 compared to 11 and 38 last year. Top Japanese finisher and 1:00:31 half marathoner Reishi Yoshida of Chuo Gakuin University was only 10th in 1:03:29 and collegiate record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University 11th in 1:03:35. But ultimately the Yosenkai is about team scoring based on the total times of each school's first ten finishers, so while the unseasonal summertime conditions held times ba...

Ekiden season rolls on, and for everyone who didn't make the top 10 at the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running this past January that means a trip to western Tokyo's Showa Linen Park this Saturday to line up on the runway of the air defense base next door to try to qualify for the 101st Hakone Ekiden . The 43 Tokyo-area universities at the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon , the Yosenkai, each run 10-12 athletes and are scored on the total times of their first 10 finishers. The 10 fastest teams go to Hakone, and the rest go home except for the 10 fastest individuals from non-qualifying universities, who get the privilege of running as part of a select team. NTV will broadcast the Yosenkai and its dramatic announcement ceremony live starting at 9:25 a.m. local time Saturday. If you've got a VPN you should be all set. If not, try mov3.co/ntv . JRN will be on-site at the Yosenkai to cover it live. Chuo University , Tokai University and Tokyo Kokusai University look sure ...

Juntendo University is one of the true powers of the Hakone Ekiden, with 11 wins in 65 appearances and producing current 3000 mSC and 10000 m national record holders Ryuji Miura and Kazuya Shiojiri . But an investigation by the Weekly Shincho gossip rag has uncovered students' accusations of abuse and power harassment against a famed honorary head coach. The university administration has acknowledged that student athletes were put in danger and indicated that the coach in question would step away from any coaching duties. The accused man is Keisuke Sawaki , 80, former head coach of the Juntendo track and field team and currently serving as a specially-appointed professor and honorary head coach at the university. A Juntendo alumnus and two-time Olympian who competed in long distance track events at both the 1968 Mexico City and 1972 Munich Olympics, as head coach Sawaki led Juntendo to 9 of its 11 Hakone victories. Those successes led to him serving at one point as executive dir...

On Sept. 6 Yamada Holdings announced that its women's ekiden team has scratched from the Oct. 20 Princess Ekiden, the qualifying race for the Nov. 24 Queens Ekiden national corporate women's championships in Sendai. Yamada Holdings had been targeting a podium finish at the Queens Ekiden this year. The announcement stated, "A restructured development system was put in place this year to develop a stronger team, but with multiple athletes injured we have made the decision to withdraw from running the Princess Ekiden." Other races on the schedule this season remain a question mark and will depend on athletes' conditions. The Yamada Holdings team was 22nd at the Queens Ekiden last year, well off the podium and earning the guaranteed place at the following year's race that comes with it. Longtime coaching staff member Kei Yokoyama , 49, was appointed head coach this year after 10 years as assistant coach, and hopes were high that the team would return to previous ...

They say in Hakone Ekiden circles that the team that wins the summer wins Hakone. Aiming to break a three-year streak of finishing off the podium at the main event, 2019 Hakone winner Tokai University is aiming to take the top position at the Oct. 19 Yosenkai Hakone qualifier half marathon. Led by 4th-year captain Yuto Kajitani , the Tokai team is putting in more mileage this summer than usual. The Shonan-based Tokai's 2019 Hakone title was its first-ever win at Japan's biggest race. Since then it has finished as high as 2nd and 5th, but in the last three years it was 11th, 15th and 11th and missed out on top 10 and a guaranteed place at the following year's Hakone. To try to get back to its winning ways the team is training this summer in Nagano at Lake Shirakaba and at altitude in Sugadaira. "This season our goal is to make top 5 at both the National University Ekiden and the Hakone Ekiden," said Kajitani. Everyone on the team is working actively to make that g...

The 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon took place July 21 in hot and sunny conditions. Patrick Kamau (Jobu University) won the men's race in 1:03:42, his third-straight Shibetsu win.. In 2nd place and the top Japanese position was Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) in 1:04:47. Koki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) was 3rd in 1:05:09. In the women's race Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) won in 1:14:01 by 48 seconds over Yuki Toyoda (Higo Ginko). The top member of Chuo Gakuin's ekiden team, Yoshida ran the competitive Second Stage at this year's Hakone Ekiden. Last year he ran the World University Games half marathon and was the fastest among the Japanese team at 1:02:08 for 4th, helping Japan score the team bronze medal. He has a half marathon PB of 1:00:31 and took 5th in the fast heat at last month's National University Ekiden qualifier. 37th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 21 July 2024 complete results Men 1. Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) - 1:03:...